Intro and ? on mounting a vacum pump

[Ray Klear]

Hello
Been lurking for a while. Got a question and thought short intro was in order. Not much to tell here. I started trim carpentry when you wore a cloth apron, had one box with 7-10 point saw, block plane, hammer,nail set, coping saw, odd essentials and a MF miter box. Now I have a 14ft trailer full of tools. (and still find I don't have all I need) I drag around the country doing installs for major retail operations. Times have changed.

My question is about mounting a vacuum pump. I picked up an almost new 220V Gast a year or so ago for 15.00 and been playing with it. I see lots of potential for it. I would like to know if I can mount it on a tank like a compressor and run a hose from it or pipe it in the shop like an air compressor. My main need is to know what kind of gauges and how are they set up on something like this. Do these have th epotential to collapse a tank. Just from using it, it doesn't seem like it would even though it does hold things tight :) Would I be able to "quick connect " it to jigs and fixtures.

Thanks

[Jim Becker]

Ray, welcome to SMC.

I think it's unlikely that the Gast pump is going to flatten any kind of reasonable tank setup. The downside to piping it in is that it has to evacuate both any tank you provide as well as the volume of air contained in the long lines between it and the object of your attention. While not quite the same as a permanent installaiton, when I use my Gast pump for vacuum clamping, I have an extra 10' or so of hose on it since the pump lives under my lathe and I need to get the vacuum to my bench. I do notice a little extra time between flipping the switch and when the vacuum is fully applied over what it's like with just the vacuum chuck on the lathe. Some of that is relative to the vacuum bag, but it starts pretty flat...the volume in the hose is still a contributor.

Do consider mounting the pump with some isolation to reduce noise.

[Tom Klass]

I have mine connected to an old freon tank, I start my pump while I'm glueing the parts that are going into the bag. The tank is ready, clamp the bag shut, open the valve, bag is almost instantly flat and the pump turns on again. I have a pressure switch connected to the tank so when the vac drops to a preset pressure the pump turns back on. If I was going to run solid lines that I could connect in different locations I would use copper pipe and solder the joints and and JIC type fittings (flared hyd. type)
Hope that helps.
Tom